Feminist and Lesbian Writers on Women's Public Radio, c. 1970s

Feminist and Lesbian Writers on Women's Public Radio, c. 1970s

This collection collates the materials used in the exhibit, Feminist Frequencies of the 1970s: Tuning into Women's Words, which explores the role of radio programs in amplifying the voices of women in the written word—writers, poets, journalists, songwriters, and playwrights—within feminist and lesbian communities. These broadcasts emerged during a cultural moment when access to traditional publishing and media remained limited for many women, particularly those whose work challenged patriarchal norms or celebrated lesbian identity. Radio became a vital medium through which these creators could bypass institutional barriers, reaching audiences directly with their words and ideas.

The roots of this movement can be traced to the broader second-wave feminist ethos that sought to "name the unnamed" and "speak the unspeakable," advocating for women's experiences to be articulated and validated in the public sphere. Inspired by grassroots organizing and collective empowerment, feminist and lesbian radio programs primarily began as volunteer-led initiatives on community radio stations, fueled by the passion and creativity of their producers.

These broadcasts challenged dominant narratives, critiquing the exclusionary practices of mainstream publishing while reclaiming storytelling as a means of empowerment. They served as both a refuge and a rallying point, offering intellectual and emotional sustenance to feminist and lesbian movements of the time.

See the full exhibit at exhibits/show/feminist-frequencies

These radio programs were recorded onto audio cassettes by an unknown individual (or individuals) who documented over a hundred different broadcasts. The tapes may have been dubbed from the open reel tape masters before the masters were moved to the Pacifica Radio Archives. The audio cassettes were eventually donated to the Lesbian Herstory Archives, and this more modest collection has been curated from those cassettes. The cassettes were digitized by students at the Pratt Institute’s Library and Information Science Program in 2024.